The Ice Sculptor
by Avatar Momo
Summary: Ice sculpting was his life. Who knew that when he finished and ventured into the outside world, that the girl of his dreams would look exactly like his best masterpiece? CHAPTER SIX IS FINALLY UP!
1. The Ice Sculptor

Hey! I re-read this story and I saw so many things that I wanted to fix, **so I redid mostly ALL of the story! Please read the whole thing, for it is SOOOO much better!**

**RATING:** T for mild language, slight violence, romance

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Avatar.

He had always labored tirelessly at his work. His remembrance of why he was doing it was fading, but there was one motive that kept him going. Day and night, night and day. Winter to spring, then summer, fall, and then winter again. Days flew by as if they were seconds, weeks passed as if they were minutes. He didn't mind that his life was slowly slipping away, wasted on the silly sculpture. Every now and then he would sleep, take a munch on the bread he dehydrated so it wouldn't mold over, or (yes, I went there) go to the bathroom in the small room on the side of the shack. And every now and then he would remember.

He would remember why he was doing this.

He had been twelve, and he was on the playground with the other children. It was one of his last days at that part of the temple before he ran away.

"If you're the Avatar, then why can't you make us some ice to cool us down?" one of the bald, whiny, heavyset kids sneered at him.

"I don't know waterbending yet," Aang admitted. "But I will someday!" he said, eyes glistening.

"Well, I don't feel protected," whined the kid, shivering and clutching his shawl in a mock-frightened position. "I want someone else to be the Avatar!"

Aang shook his head, and turned to walk away when a strong hand caught him.

"Hey," said a depper voice. Aang turned back to face him. It was his older friend, Yin.

"Hey," Aang replied, nodding to his older teenage friend.

"I have a request, no, more like a _dare_," Yin said, a devillish smirk rising across his smooth, young, attractive face.

"What is it?" Aang said excitedly.

"You're gonna be an ice-bender one day, right?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Yeah."

"Well," Yin said, "I have a challenge for you to do, once you get yourself a waterbending teacher."

"What is it?" Aang asked, louder this time.

"Shh! I want you to make for yourself the girl of your dreams," Yin said, finishing dramatically.

Aang stood there, staring off into space. "I don't think I know what you mean."

"Ugh!" Yin said, smacking himself in the forehead. "It's as simple as an air-blast! ...Ice. Get it? Sculpt a freakingly hot girl outta ice!"

"OH!" Aang said. "I get it!"

Yin smiled.

"Cool."

His sixteenth birthday had Aang worried. He had taught himself to waterbend, but very, very little. Aang had figured out how to make ice and keep it frozen, but he had no clue how to shape it. When he felt the ice beneath his fingers begin to soften, he would flex his fingers and the ice would harden, so it would not ruin his hard work.

He knew he couldn't stay locked in his little room forever, making every striking detail of his breathtaking sculpture flawless. He had Avatar duties, but he had made his promise to Yin, and he would never break it.

But soon his situation would change. Aang had just finished his ice scupture, and he instantly fell in love with it as soon as he stepped back to admire it.

Perfectly widened eyes, rippling, shimmering hair, and a smooth, beautiful, curvaceous body. Soft hands, slender fingers, the list of perfection could go on forever.

For some strange reason, however, as soon as he looked over the girl, he began to cry.

"Oh! How I wish I could have a girl like that!" he wailed quietly.

Deprived of love in his life after all of his friends died in the war, he had no one to love, and no one loved him.

And then, a sparkling light appeared through a crack in the ceiling. It blinded him, and he couldn't see anything but the light. The light...

A/N: Hey! So is it any better? Let me know!


	2. The Vision

Yo! Here's the second redo! I saw that the paragraphs were weirdly shaped... O.o I have no idea how that happened. Onto the story!

--

Yue, the spirit of the moon, hated to see Aang so sad like this. He was always so joyful and full of happiness, working on the sculpture faithfully and jolliness. She greatly approved of his great carefulness, for she was the one that blessed him with it. As the tears slowly slid down his cheeks, she decided to do something about his sudden hopelessness.

With a careful, steady hand, she streamed a bright light through the cracks in the roof of the small shack, and with a quick fist she skillfully broke open the roof.

Aang, dazzled by the light, looked up and fell into a deep unconsciousness. Taking advantage of his slumber, Yue presented him with a vision. A vision of her hope, her promise.

Aang felt his eyes slide open, but he wasn't in his shack anymore. Where was he? It was like he was somewhere, but nowhere at the same time. Everything that surrounded him was blank white, and he was, he noticed sadly, all alone.

"Where am I?" he shouted into the white void, his voice echoing in the distance.

"Do not despair, Aang," a soft voice called. "It is only I."

"Wait," Aang said, confused. "Who is it?"

"You should know who I am," she said, slowly fading into Aang's view.

"Yue!" Aang gasped. "Why have you come to visit?"

Yue's face fell slightly. She lowered her head and looked away.

"Oh," was all Aang could say. "You saw me, huh?"

"Yes," Yue admitted. "Why were you so sad?"

"Because I knew that I could never have a girlfirend that would love me as much as I love that statue! No one could ever be that beautiful anyways... It may sound silly, but I might... I..."

"Please do not love that statue more than real people," Yue said sternly. "You will get nothing out of a relationship like that. Because I am very fond of you, Aang, I will make sure of it that you meet girls more kind and more loving than that simple block of ice."

Yue paused to check Aang's reaction, and then continued when she saw he was not convinced. "You need someone to help you along your hard and difficult path. You will just have to figure out for yourself which one is the right one _for you_. Not which one is the prettiest."

"Thank you, Yue," Aang said, bowing down to her.

"Don't lose hope nor faith," Yue said, slowly fading away as Aang's vision blurred.

"Wait!" Aang called. "I don't know the special girl's name! Tell me her name!"

Yue replied loudly, "Her name is-!!" but Aang's vision blurred and then everything went dark.

--

A/N: Onto the next chapter! I made this one a lot less confusing, and I hope it flows more smoothly than before.


	3. This Is Very Bad Indeed

Yo x2!

This is the 3 redo that I've done today, but I'll try to finish the whole story and add another chapter! :D Hope that it's a lot better now that I've smoothed things over!

--

Aang sat up from his vision. The light had gone, and he was alone. He had a gut feeling that he needed to leave, so he left the makeshift hut, making one last mental picture of the sculpture.

He walked outside for the first time in 103 years, searching around him and shielding the bright, shining sun from his eyes with his hand. When he first had woken up when the ice had thawed, he was too traumatized to want to go outside, and it never occured to him that he should, so he simply stayed in his shack and worked with the remaining ice.

Aang ran away after he had found out that he was the Avatar, but he would have to leave his home and go to the Western Air Temple. He returned, however, because he had forgotten to pack anything to eat. Tired and depressed, he returned reluctantly to the air temple.

He had picked a horrible time to come back, however. As soon as he stepped onto soil of the temple, a large explosion rocked the side of the mountain.

Frightened out of his mind, he ran into the shack when the troops of the Fire Nation stormed through. The Fire Nation had not searched this shack, though, so he was safe. He hadn't heard the soldiers leave, though, and the raging fireballs had been replaced by merciless blizzards and winter storms. His last recounted memory from a century ago was opening the door, and being frozen instantaneously.

One hundred years later, however, a heat wave had come over the Temple, melting the ice that Aang had been trapped in so long ago.

Aang woke up, not knowing what to do. Seeing all of the ice, he set out to work in carrying out Yin's request. It had taken him three years to do it, living of from the melted ice and stored food in the shack.

Aang was shocked as he stepped out of the hut to see how much his home had changed. Scorch marks littered the temple walls, and blazed trees that had died so long ago still resembled blackened driftwood. Everything was covered with moss, weeds, and vines; This was so unlike Aang's memory of the place, always tidy and neat.

Tears threatened at the corners of his eyes, but he quickly shooed them away, trying not to think of Yin, Gyatso, and his other friends.

Completely lost in thought, he was almost hit with a heart attack when he heard a low roar explode behind him.

--

He found himself petting an unusually large flying bison a couple of hours later.

The bison, it seemed, was the grandchild of Aang's original bison, Appa. Aang didn't take Appa with him into the shack, something that he has utterly regretted to this day.

The bison he found took him to his little shelter, and Aang named the bison Appa, so he wouldn't have a tough time thinking about his late, unfortunate, first bison.

"Hey boy!" Aang said when Appa stood up. "Where you going?"

Aang followed Appa outside to the temple and stood on his hind legs.

"What is it?" Aang searched the skies, but saw nothing.

Appa grumbled loudly, his eyes worried and searching the sky.

"What is it Appa?!" Aang said, more worried this time. He had never seen a frantic bison like this. Aang too began to search the sky, looking around himself quickly.

Appa started bounding in circles, crashing every here and there into a tree. Aang started to panic. Was something bad going to happen?

As the sky started to turn a bright turquoise blue in a huge flash of light, the only answer to that question had to be yes.

--


	4. The Southern Watertribe

Yo! x3!!! OMG THATS SO MANY YO'S!!!

Haha, I am really bored. I never really realized how bored I get when I have no homework....

SO HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER!

--

The flash of light went as soon as it came. Birds flew out of their trees, scattering into the sky like a swarm of locusts.

Aang stood frozen to his spot as he slowly crept out of his temporary paralysis.

Suddenly in his mind, he heard a voice whispering in his ear. It sounded like Yin.

"_Go to the Southern Watertribe._"

"Why?" Aang questioned the voice aloud.

"_Go, Aang, before it's too late! Too late..._" from Yue this time.

"Too late for WHAT?!" Aang shouted. He was _tired _of all this secrecy! How hard is it to simply let him know what was going on?!

"_Hurry..._"

"Gyatso?"

"_Hurry, Aang. You're the only hope for us all. I need you to go to the Southern Watertribe. Before they come._"

"Who, Gyatso? Who's they?" Aang was getting scared. Who was coming?

"_AANG!_"

Aang jumped. It was a beautiful voice of a girl, as free and as soft as a breeze, yelling his name. Aang bolted over to the shack, quickly snatching the lone saddle that had been sitting in the shack ever since he could remember, and sprinted back outside. Aang fastened the saddle onto Appa and launched himself up onto Appa's back.

Appa groaned in protest.

"C'mon, boy! We have to go! Yip! Yip!"

Appa soared into the sky, his fur whipping around wildly in the wind. Aang took fistfuls of Appa's coarse fur and yanked them to the right, and Appa turned, headed directly south.

--

Aang sat, bored, on Appa's head. He knew he should have brought some food or something to do.

A flash of cold air swept across his neck, sending shivers down his spine.

"Boy, it's cold," Aang muttered to himself, hugging himself and hoping for warmth.

He brushed his dark brown hair out of his eyes as it swept back and forth across his face, annoyed as it swept back into its original position. He let out a slow, frustrated sigh.

That's when he spotted the first iceberg.

--

Appa crash-landed in an open field of snow, shaking the nearby village.

The moon was reflecting off of the snow so brightly that Aang had a hard time keeping his eyes open. He rubbed his eyes, trying to rid the glare of the bright moon from them.

"Damnit Yue!" he growled. As if hearing him, the moon was quickly shielded by a huge cloud.

As soon as the bright light of the moon was gone, Appa fell asleep and Aang dozed off quickly after in Appa's warm, soft fur.

--

Aang woke up to two glistening, jade orbs right in his face.

"AHH!" Aang shouted and the orbs widened in surprise.

The girl jumped back, covering her mouth.

"I'm so sorry, mister!" the girl cried in shock, looking like she was going to have a panic attack.

Standing up and brushing himself off, Aang said, "It's okay, I'm sorry for scaring you like that. Who are you?"

Shyly rubbing the back of her head, the little girl said, "I'm Nia. I was looking for a bunny when I found you and your fluffy fluff monster."

"Nice to meet you, Nia," Aang grinned. "I'm Aang."

"Hi Aang! Ooh! Is it okay if I call you Aangie?" Nia said, hopping up and down. "We never have any _visitors_!"

"Uhh...I...guess..." Aang said awkwardly. "Is that your village over there?" Aang said, pointing toward the small town a little ways away.

"Yup! I'll take you there!" Nia said, grabbing his hand and leading him to the village.

When they got there, Nia started to shout.

"HEY EVERYBODY!!" she yelled in her little voice. "I FOUND SOMEONE!!"

_She sure has a big mouth for someone who's so little_, Aang thought, rolling his eyes slightly.

Some people perked up, and the villagers began to meander on over. Aang noticed, with a shock, that there were no men in this village at all.

_What could have happened?_ he thought, curious nonetheless.

An elderly woman stepped up to him and asked, "Where are you from?"

"Uh...the Western Air Temple?"

Everyone gasped. And then burst out laughing.

"Haha! That's funny!" a little kid said, pointing at Aang with a ridiculing finger.

"No, I really am from there!" Aang protested. "I'm an airbender!"

Everyone went silent.

"You're...an...airbender?" the old woman asked. Aang noddded, hoping they would listen.

"I'm sorry, kid, but there haven't been any airbenders since a century ago!" a boy in his late teens said, stepping out from behind a middle-aged woman.

"Excuse me for asking, but who are you?" Aang asked politely. This situation was very embarassing; he had been told to simply go to the southern water tribe, and yet these people were interrogating him.

"I, my young traveller, am SOKKA, THE MIGHTY WARRIOR!!" Sokka reached into the pack on his back and threw his boomerang straight at Aang's head. But suddenly, right as the villagers were supposed to hear the impact, the Aang wasn't there anymore.

Looking around confusedly, they couldn't find him.

"THERE HE IS!!" Nia said, pointing up in the air.

The villagers followed Nia's finger and there was Aang, clinging to an airball.

Everyone, once again, gasped.

"He is an airbender!" Sokka and the older woman gasped at the same time.

As Aang gracefully landed on his toes, they all applauded, and some children laughed and cheered.

Then Sokka's boomerang returned and hit Sokka in the head. He fell to the ground, claiming, "I will get you someday!" while pointing a wary finger at Aang. He grinned.

"What's going on here?" a light and beautiful voice asked, disapproving but curious at the same time.

The crowd parted, and there she stood. The human version of Aang's sculpture.

--

A/N: So I fixed some mix-ups and typos and clarified some confusing stuff! Now, to the next one!


	5. Katara

**EDIT: I'm not doing any more yo's, but hi!**

**Apparently I exprimented with POV's, and I'm gonna try to clean it up as much as possible**

This was my original comment: ON WITH THE STORY!! :O BTW, the first part of this Chapter is in Katara's Point Of View. After the "--" is back to 3rd person. :)

...

I bend the water off of the last of the laundry, and I'm done. Finally.

I wrinkle my nose at the smell of Sokka's putrid socks and hope that I'll eventually wash that stench out.

_Hopless!! _I tell myself. _That is one smell I'll never get out of the laundry for as long as I live._

I pitch the socks into a hamper and bend the remaining water out of the tent.

What a boring day. What a boring week. What a boring month.

"What a boring year! What a boring _life_!" I complain to myself. "How come nothing ever happens! No blizzards, no visitors or travellers!!!"

Sighing, I stand up and finish dusting the tent. I right some pots from the small tremor last night, and stretch my back.

I glance around the tent and make sure that everything is in the right place. Good.

I adjust the mats, and then I'm done. With my grandmother's tent.

"AUGH!" I shout in frustration. "I have three more tents to go!"

Seventeen is not treating me well. I am one year past marrying age, but there aren't any men in this tribe other than my brother, Sokka! If I turn eighteen with no one at all to marry in the village, then it turns out by some dumb old Northern law that I have to marry my own brother.

What a nightmare. I would probably kill myself if that happens.

I turn my head, hearing everyone gasp. What could have happened?

I walk outside to investigate, but everyone in the village was crowding around someone. Who?

I run up to the ring of villagers and part the crowd.

"Excuse me," I say. "Sorry, Nini," as I stumble over Nia.

I look up and I see him. The boy of my dreams.

--

Aang looked up the same exact moment that Katara did. Their eyes met, and both blushed furiously.

"Uh...Katara?" Sokka said slowly. "Is everything okay?"

Katara gulped and nodded slowly.

"Who are you?" Katara asked quietly, barely in a whisper.

"My name is Aang," he replied, almost as equally quiet. "I got lost when I was flying here on my bison."

Katara looked up confusedly at Sokka, who rolled his eyes and replied, "He says he's an airbender."

Katara's eyes lit up like stars in a dark night sky and gasped in excitement.

"An _Airbender_?! OH MY GOSH!!" Katara gushed. "That's so awesomel!"

"What's a gosh? And how come I didn't know that you had one?" Sokka said suspiciously, stroking an imaginary beard.

Katara ignored him and said, "I have so many questions to ask you!" A grin lit up her face, making her eyes sparkle and her cheeks flush.

Aang felt a lump form in his throat; she was beautiful, too beautiful.

Suddenly, Aang had his hand grabbed and was yanked off the ground; he was dragged into Katara's personal tent and was plopped on a traditional animal seat.

"Ow," Aang said, rubbing his shoulder.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Katara said apologetically. "I guess I got too excited."

"Uh, yeah. Why are you so excited that I'm an airbender?" Aang asked warily. "Are you a Fire-Nation agent?"

Katara's excited eyes went from jubilant to devastated in an instant. Tears started to form at the edges of her eyes. She held up her hands to her face and started to sob.

"No! No! Don't cry!" Aang said quickly, rushing over to her side. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that! It was an attempt at a joke!"

But Katara just ran out the door flap, leaving Aang utterly bewildered.

"AUGH! I AM SO BAD WITH GIRLS!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!" Aang said, banging his head on the table next to him.

--

A/N: Haha! Aang needs to work on his girl skills. ;D

Now, Im gonna finish the last chapter and possibly add a new one!


	6. You Need Help With Girls

Okay, so this is as far as I've gotten. I redid all of the previous chapters and now I'm fixing this one. I'll do another chapter either now or within a week, so I'm glad to finally ease back into writing. I got very busy all of a sudden, changing schools and moving, so I haven't gotten to type all that much. I was just doing little things here and there, fixing small issues with the story and typing a POI chapter or two. But now, since my life is steadying a bit, I may get to type a lot more. Enjoy this while it lasts!!!

Oh, and here's my original comment: Hi :D I'm SOOOOOOOOO sorry I haven't updated in a while! I finished a chapter in Princess of Ice and I thought that I should get back to this one. I _promise _I will work on this one more. Just make sure to keep reviewing!

Thank you for reading!!! Avatar Momo

--

Aang lay in the tent, feeling utterly stupid.

"Let's face it. You stink with girls."

"Huh?" Aang said, sitting up.

"That's right. That was pretty smooth right there."

Aang looked up, and recognized the sarcastic face.

"Hi Sokka," Aang said, sighing.

"Hi. You need help," he observed. "A _lot_ of help, if you ask me."

"What do you mean?" Aang said.

"What I mean is you suck with girls. You, my friend, need to learn the proper skills."

"There are proper skills?" Aang said, confused. "It's, like, something you can study?"

"Yep," Sokka said, nodding. "You're talking to a girl _expert!_" he added.

"Wait... you know how the female mind works?" Aang asked, stunned.

"Uh... no. That's something we guys may never understand," Sokka said, stroking his imaginary beard once more. He attempted to sound professional.

"Well, I still need help," Aang confessed, looking down at his feet.

"I know ya do. Now, which girl do you like so far?" Sokka asked, innocently, looking him in the eyes.

"That girl that just pushed me out of the way."

Sokka choked on the air he was breathing.

"Ka-ka-ka-"

"Sokka? Are you okay?" Aang asked, concerned. He stood up, in case he should have to go get help.

"You-you...You like...Ka-ka-"

"Who the heck is Ka?"

"YOU LIKE MY SISTER?!" Sokka shouted incredulously.

"She's you're sister?" Aang asked, taken aback. "I see you didn't inherit the looks."

"Hey!" Sokka said, punching Aang in the arm playfully. "I don't have to help you!"

Aang went silent, looking at his feet again.

"Good, that's better!" Sokka said, clapping him on the back.

"Okay, what do I do first?" Aang mumbled.

"Well, she _loves it _when..."

--

Aang walked into one of the tents that Katara was fixing up and asked a simple question, one that Sokka said could melt her heart.

"Can I help?"

Katara jumped from her spot on the ground and turned around.

When she saw Aang, her heart about melted. Mission accomplished.

She sighed and replied brightly, "Sure! Here!" She handed him a basket full of clothes. "You're an airbender, right?"

Aang nodded.

"Well, the first thing you can do is dry those off. I can bend the water out, but we never have anything air dried here. Because... you know... it would freeze."

He lifted a tunic and faced the door, holding the item of clothing up. He pulled back his hand and punched forward, sending all the water off it with an air blast. He ran his hand over it to make sure it was dry, and then turned back to Katara, handing it to her.

"Here!" Aang said. Katara looked completely awestruck.

"Wow," she whispered. "That was amazing!"

Aang shrugged.

"You know, I never asked your name!" she said brightly, acting as if their exchange in the other tent never occured.

"And I never yours," Aang said gallantly. "What _is _your name?"

"Katara," she said, a tinge of pink hinting on her cheeks. "Yours?"

"Aang," he said, smiling and blushing as well.

"Well, _Aang_, I think we all earned a well-deserved break."

"Would you like to go penguin sledding with me?" he asked suddenly, as if remembering something very quickly.

"Uh... sure?" Katara said uncertainly.

"Cool!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the tent.

While they were running to go find the penguins, Katara got considerably tired running in her heavy parka, so they both stopped, Katara to catch her breath, and Aang to lay down in the snow. He apparently didn't get tired often.

"How old are you?" Aang asked during their trying to get to know each other better.

"Seventeen," Katara replied glumly. "You?"

"Uh... I'm sixteen," Aang said uncertainly. He couldn't remember if he was sixteen or seventeen; he recounted a few times of all the years he spent in the shack, how old he was when he was frozen, and such. _Good; I am sixteen_. He smiled to himself, happy that he was right.

"You're _sixteen_?" Katara asked, shocked. "_Sixteen?"_

"Yep," Aang said. "Why aren't you... erm..."

"Married?" Katara suggested. He nodded. "There aren't any men in the whole South Pole. Any waterbenders, for that matter."

"But... you were waterbending!" Aang protested.

She smiled but didn't want to push the matter further.

"Let's just go do some penguin sledding."

---

AH! I finally finished that chapter. Now onto the next one! I might finish it soon; I don't want to keep any more people waiting. Review if you liked the updates I did! Review if you didn't!


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